Team Stats

Hitting %

Blocks

Digs

Aces

The Capilano University Blues men’s volleyball team took care of business on Friday night in North Vancouver, earning a 3-0 win over the College of the Rockies Avalanche to secure a series sweep in their opening week of PACWEST play.

After the Blues had to battle from behind for much of last night’s 3-1 win and momentarily allowed COTR to get back into the match, CapU controlled the majority of the play on Friday. The Blues went up 7-1 off the bat en route to a 25-19 win in the opening frame, and then led throughout in the second set to clinch a 25-20 decision.

The third set saw both teams struggle at the service line with numerous errors on both sides until rookie Markus Bratsberg stepped up and helped the Blues open up a 14-8 advantage with his spin serve. COTR clawed back to tie things at 20 and force a CapU timeout, after which Markiel Simpson helped the Blues answer with a kill and then a block. The Avalanche again responded to even the score at 23, but Jacob Hopkins won the next point with a block and an attacking error by COTR on the next point gave Capilano the match.

“Looking at video last night and today, it was pretty clear that there were some things that were glaring that we needed to switch up, and I think we made those changes and our passing just skyrocketed as a result,” said head coach Dave Dooley. “We controlled the ball from the passing line much better tonight, which allowed us to stay in system more and let [setter Simon Friesen] do his thing and isolate, and we put the ball away more often than not. They played a similar game to last night, and I think we upped it a bit.

“The main message to the guys is that now we know how they can play. Now we know they have this level, and guys coming off the bench and everyone contributing – we need to have a way more competitive level in practice. So going into our bye week that’s going to be our expectation, that this weekend is what we’re going to see in our gym.”

Capilano has next weekend off, and will be back in action with a home-and-home series against Columbia Bible College. The Blues travel to Abbotsford to face the Bearcats on Wednesday, October 24, and then are back home on Thursday the 25th.